James Paul Blaylock (born September 20, 1950) is an American fantasy author. He is noted for a distinctive, humorous style, as well as being one of the pioneers of the steampunk genre of science fiction. Blaylock has cited Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Dickens as his inspirations. He was born in Long Beach, California; studied English at California State University, Fullerton, receiving an M.A. in 1974; and lives in Orange, California, teaching creative writing at Chapman University. He taught at the Orange County School of the arts until 2013. Many of his books are set in Orange County, California, and can more specifically be termed "fabulism" – that is, fantastic things happen in our present-day world, rather than in high fantasy, where the setting is often some other world. His works have also been categorized as magic realism. He and his friends Tim Powers and K. W. Jeter were mentored by Philip K. Dick. Along with Powers, Blaylock invented the poet William Ashbless. Blaylock and Powers have often collaborated with each other on writing stories, including "The Better Boy", "On Pirates", and "The William Ashbless Memorial Cookbook". Blaylock previously served as director of the Creative Writing Conservatory at the Orange County High School of the Arts until 2013, where Powers has also been Writer in Residence. He has been married to his wife, Viki Blaylock, for more than 40 years. They have two sons.

Awards

Blaylock's short story "Thirteen Phantasms" won the 1997 World Fantasy Award for best Short Fiction. "Paper Dragons" won the award in 1986. Homunculus won the Philip K. Dick award in 1987.

The "Balumnia" Trilogy

Whimsical fantasy inspired, according to the author, by The Wind in the Willows and The Hobbit.

The "Narbondo / St. Ives Universe" Series

Novels

Sharing the character of villain Ignacio Narbondo; The Digging Leviathan and its sequel Zeuglodon are contemporary fantasies set in 1960s California, while the remainder are steampunk novels set in Victorian England.

Short fiction and novellas

Collections

All short fiction (except for the novelette Lord Kelvin's Machine) and two novels have appeared in two collections by Subterranean Press:

The Land of Dreams Series

The "Christian" Trilogy

Present-day fantasy using Christian elements, such as the Holy Grail and the thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas.

The "Ghosts" Trilogy

Present-day Californian ghost stories.

Other Novels

Collections

Other Publications

Critical studies and reviews of Blaylock's work